“Harry Potter” and Steven Spielberg Are Snubbed...and Other Surprises About the BAFTA Nominations

Yesterday, while Hollywood was still recovering from Sunday’s 69th Golden Globe Awards and Ricky Gervais was grading his performance an impartial A+, the British Academy of Film and Television Arts unveiled its 2012 shortlist nominees. Considering that a fair percentage of those who decide on the BAFTAs—better known as the British equivalent to the Oscars—also double as Academy members, it is worth noting several surprises among the nominees that may be reflected in next week’s stateside nominations.

1. Little Love for Harry Potter

After being shut out of the major award races with its first seven installments, director David Yates’s blockbuster British-American film series is running out of time for official accolades. Alas, while the final film in the series, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows—Part 2, did receive nominations for production design, makeup and hair, sound, and special visual effects, it wasn’t recognized in any of BAFTA’s major categories, such as outstanding British film, supporting actor (Alan Rickman), and editing. Although four nods is better than the two that Potter received for Deathly Hallows—Part 1, it’s a shame that the decade-long cinematic achievement never broke into awards categories that don’t serve as bathroom breaks.

2. Unexpected Love for Bridesmaids

Apparently bridal-shop bathroom humor does translate overseas. Bridesmaids may not have won any gold at Sunday’s Globes, but the Kristen Wiig film scored a pair of BAFTA nominations, for original screenplay and supporting actress (Melissa McCarthy) yesterday. A surprising turnout considering that comedies—let alone comedies that feature a female cast that cracks crass jokes and performs even crasser set pieces—are not recognized as often as dramas.

3. Steven Spielberg Who?

Although Spielberg’s The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn snagged a nod for animated film, the filmmaker’s War Horse failed to get a single nomination in a major category. Perhaps his upcoming biopic Lincoln will have more luck next year—or maybe he should start incorporating Girls Who Encounter Gastrointestinal Difficulties in Inappropriate Places (GWEGDIP) into his features. Also conspicuously missing from the director category is Woody Allen . . . but don’t pity the Midnight in Paris director; he is nominated for original screenplay.

4. Introducing Drive and We Need to Talk About Kevin

Nicolas Winding Refn’s stunt-driver drama Drive and Lynne Ramsay’s haunting horror-thriller We Need to Talk About Kevin may have received just one nod each from the Hollywood Foreign Press Association—and zero Golden Globes—but the Brits made up for it yesterday. Drive boasts four nominations, in the best film, director, supporting actress, and editing categories, while We Need to Talk About Kevin scored three major-category nods, for director, leading actress, and outstanding British film. We expect good showings for both films on next week’s Oscar-nominee list.

Welcome to the day you never thought would come: The day that Jonah Hill is nominated for a BAFTA, for playing a statistics-acing straight man, while Leonardo DiCaprio is ignored for his titular role in J. Edgar and Ryan Gosling is overlooked for his work in two projects, The Ides of March and Drive. However, against fellow supporting-actor nominees Christopher Plummer, Jim Broadbent, Kenneth Branagh, and Philip Seymour Hoffman, it seems unlikely Hill will be able to seal the deal.